“New business formations and startups are the most significant driver for job creation
and economic growth. Entrepreneurs, inventors and small business owners are
helping transform our state economy for years to come. That is why it is critical at
this juncture to not only provide them with access to alternative capital but to build a
robust business climate and ecosystem.”
– Andrew Zulauf, Executive Director, WVJIT
each phase of their growth,” says
Guy Peduto, director of INNOVA.
“The grant and early-stage funding
provided through WVJIT and
INNOVA support growth from the
research, discovery and idea develop-
ment stages into the startup phase.”
Investments by WVJIT and
INNOVA allow young West Virginia
companies to develop their products
and enter the marketplace. Without
them, many companies would not
exist or would have left the Mountain
State to take advantage of supportive
resources elsewhere.
Mark Wise, chief product officer
and co-founder of Veristo.com, re-
ceived seed funding through WVJIT
to build and launch his product,
ListHub.com, in 2002. “It wouldn’t
have happened in West Virginia
without WVJIT and INNOVA,”
says Wise. “We would have moved
to other areas that have those
resources.”
SwifTAG Systems is another com-
pany that was launched thanks to
the efforts of WVJIT and INNOVA.
SwifTAG designs research technol-
ogy to make the scientific process
more effective. “Our partnership with
WVJIT and INNOVA greatly accel-
erated the development of our prod-
ucts,” says Zachary Wright, Ph.D.,
CEO of SwifTAG. “It has given us
the ability to experiment a bit more
and hire help where we’ve needed
it, and we are planning to close our
first sales in the next few months.”
The right capital investment might
launch more than a new company—
it might create an entirely new in-
dustry. For example, CFOAM LLC
manufactures coal-based carbon
foam products used in military, in-
dustrial, aerospace and commercial
product markets. The company
received funding from WVJIT in
its early stages and now holds 27
patents.
“We see CFOAM not just as a new
business but a new industry,” says
Brian Joseph, who sits on CFOAM’s
board of directors. “The applications
for these coal-based products are
astronomically large, and we project
we are going to grow this business
quite a lot in the next few years.”
Creating and developing alterna-
tive pools of equity and debt capital
not only foster the creation of new
business—it also allows for the
growth and expansion of existing
businesses. To help build a pipeline
of successful startups in the state,
WVJIT partners with a variety of
sophisticated funding partners.
“WVJIT runs a very professional
organization, and we are glad to
work with them,” says Eric Dobson,
CEO of Angel Capital Group, LLC.
“In this industry, great partners are
appreciated, especially those who un-
derstand sharing risk. Entrepreneurs
win when investors collaborate to
share wisdom, capital, experiences
and expertise. Without investors
willing to take financial risks, even
the most promising technologies and
teams will falter. If you want more
successful companies to grow and
impact West Virginia, you need to
create investors in West Virginia,
and WVJIT is doing that.”